Former Indian pacer Ajit Agarkar feels that Virat Kohli would play six bowlers, amongst which three will be the pacers, when they will begin their ICC T20 World Cup 2021 campaign against Pakistan.
The countdown for the much-anticipated clash of the T20 World Cup 2021 has begun. Virat Kohli-led Team India will take on Pakistan in their first game of the mega event on Sunday (24th October).
With less than five days remaining for the start of the match between the two arch-rivals, there is a lot of speculation about what will be the ideal playing XI for Team India against Pakistan.
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Many pundits and fans have already started to predict their Indian XI for the game against the Babar Azam-led side. While some feel the Virat Kohli-led side should play five bowlers, many are of the opinion that the ‘Men in Blue’ should go in with six bowlers.
Former Indian pacer Ajit Agarkar in an interaction on Star Sports said that Indian skipper Virat Kohli would like to go in with six bowling options with three pacers if the pitch will be flat, but if it has something to offer then they can take the risk of playing five bowlers.
“Relatively certain that Virat Kohli would like six-bowling options. If the pitch has something to offer, then you can perhaps take a chance with five bowlers, but if it's a flat pitch, he would ideally want to go in with six bowlers with three seamers and they have lots of spin options,” Ajit Agarkar said on Star Sports.
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Ajit Agarkar picked his six bowlers if Hardik Pandya is not used as a bowling option by the team management. The former Indian pacer picked Shardul Thakur ahead of Bhuvneshwar Kumar as the third pacer along with the likes of Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammad Shami.
He also picked Varun Chakravarthy and Rahul Chahar as two spinners along with all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja.
“And Jadeja is an all-rounder whose batting has come out in leaps and bounds. So, you can treat him as one of the top-order batsmen. So, my six options -- if Hardik Pandya is not to bowl -- would be Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Shami, Shardul Thakur, Ravindra Jadeja, Varun Chakravarthy and Rahul Chahar," he said.
Before locking horns against Pakistan, India will take on Australia in their second warmup game on Wednesday (20th October). Earlier they pounded England by 7 wickets in the first warmup game on Monday (18th October).
(IANS inputs)
